Giant will star Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan. What’s more, filming is about to begin in Leeds, as part of an all-UK shoot.
Shortly to start filming in the UK is a new movie by the name of Giant. Unrelated to the James Dean-headlined classic, this is actually the biopic of boxer Prince Naseem Hamed (also known as Naz). It’s going to follow his story from his early days through to his ascent to becoming a world champion boxer.
Interesting personnel have been attracted to the feature, too.
Amir El-Masry is going to be playing Hamed in the movie, and alongside him will be Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan is going to take on the role of Brendan Ingle, the trailer who helped coach Hamed to his title.
Rowan Athale, who’s been working on the likes of The Rise and Gangs Of London, has written the script and will be directing as well. Furthermore, a man with a certain degree of boxing movie heritage – Sylvester Stallone – is listed among the executive producers.
Giant is going to be film in the UK, but that wasn’t the original plan. However, the announcement of tax breaks in the most recent budget led to a change of plan, with the whole production moving to Britain. Filming is set to take place in Leeds from the end of this month. Not bad, considering that a lot of work was originally planned for Malta.
The UK distribution rights meanwhile have been picked up by True Brit Entertainment, a fast-growing company that – among its other projects – is backing Gurinder Chadha’s new film.
The film has been in the works now for a few years, and assuming the shoot for it is relatively brisk, we’d be expected to feast our eyes on Giant in 2025. No word yet on a release date though, but we’ll keep you posted as we hear more about it.
